John E. Malmstad *69

John died Feb. 14, 2026, in Cambridge, Mass.  

He was born in Bismarck, N.D., June 25, 1941. As an undergraduate at Northwestern, John completed pre-medical requirements but chose to major in Russian and comparative literature. At Princeton, he earned a Ph.D. in Slavic languages in 1969, working under Nina Berberova, who helped him develop his interests in Modern Russian culture and Émigré Russian literature. 

John held faculty positions at Columbia (1968-85) and Harvard (1985-2015). Of his 27 book-length publications, only four appeared in English: his co-authored (with Robert Maguire) translation of Bely’s Petersburg, his biography of Mikhail Kuzmin (written with Nikolai Bogomolov), a collection of articles about Bely, and a co-edited Festschrift for Vladimir Markov. 

For undergraduates, John taught a year-long survey of Russian literature in English, and for graduate students he conducted seminars with readings in Russian of poets including Blok, Bely, Annensky, Kuzmin, and Khodasevich. 

Drawn to the New York City Ballet, which under George Balanchine’s direction was lending new vitality to the traditions of Russian dance, John worked with dancers, wrote articles on ballet, and wrote a scenario for a ballet, Winter Dreams, performed by the Pennsylvania Ballet in 1987. 

John is survived by his friends and the students he mentored. 

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.